Throwback! When I first moved to Austin, over five years ago, my first job was as a social media associate at a restaurant group here in town. One of my accounts was none other than Ski Shores Café, a historic little spot out on beautiful Lake Austin. I absolutely loved being assigned to this, as it meant that I got to make regular trips out to the lake and enjoy burgers and margaritas in the name of “work.” Can’t beat that!

After I moved on from that job, I stopped going to Ski Shores on a regular basis. No reason in particular, I guess mostly because it’s about a 30 minute drive from central Austin, and there are just so many closer places to drink around these parts. (You can also boat into Ski Shores, which is obviously awesome, but tragically I don’t own a boat so I can’t take advantage of their sweet boat slips.)

Don’t worry, this story (well, short anecdote from my past) has a happy ending. Because I finnnnally dragged my lazy ass back out to Ski Shores last week and it was just as glorious as my sun-dappled memories recalled. Turns out my friend Matt is rocking Ski Shores’ marketing and PR now, and his company invited out a group of Austin media for a leisurely lunch on the lake. Spoiler: totally worth the (very pretty) drive!

You know what makes queso and tequila even better? Queso and tequila with a gorgeous lake view and cool breeze. Ohh yeah.

In case you didn’t know, Ski Shores has been providing tasty lakeside eats since 1954! It quickly became a local favorite, but the Austin restaurant scene, like fashion, is a fickle beast. As my girl Heidi Klum would say, one day you’re in, and the next day… you’re out. After a long run, Ski Shores closed in 2009. But luckily a smart restaurant group swooped in and restored Ski Shores to its original glory; they reopened in 2010, and have been serving up more booze and fried treats ever since.

The menu at Ski Shores is not fancy, and I mean this in a good way. I love me some fancy food, don’t get me wrong, but after a long day racing around the lake on your boat (HINT HINT, ANY BOAT FRIENDS READING THIS?!), you just want the basics. Beer, wine, frosty cocktails, burgers, hot dogs, tacos… you get my gist. I brought my friend and fellow blogger/IGer Sarah out to the Ski Shores media lunch and we shared chips, guac, queso, salsa, and fried pickles with the rest of our lunch friends, then split the black bean burger and turkey wrap. Along with a couple beers and glasses of chilled white wine. See? Simple. It was perfect.

Everything on the Ski Shores Café menu ranges from about $5-10, so even though you’re in a lovely setting, you’re not breaking the bank or paying for the view. And there’s plenty of seating, so it’s great for groups. I can’t tell you how nice it was to relax with a bunch of like-minded Austinites and enjoy a relaxing afternoon snacking and catching up on the water. This little sojourn definitely convinced me that I need to take more trips out to Ski Shores, and not be so annoyingly resistant about journeying outside my eastside/downtown Austin bubble.

Cheers to long, lazy Texas summers, cheers to Ski Shores, and cheers to everyone who now plans to treat me to thrilling boat trips this season.